January 30, 2020: Industry groups representing lead and lead battery manufacturers and recyclers announced on January 21 that they had signed up to seven key principles and launched a task force to implement a wide-ranging material stewardship programme.
The industry groups — the International Lead Association, US-based Battery Council International, the Association of Battery Recyclers and EU-based automotive and industrial battery association EUROBAT — together represent battery manufacturers in the US and Europe and battery recyclers globally.
The guiding principles represent an agreement between the organizations, and participating member companies, to develop performance indicators and policies that will ensure continuous improvement in the management of lead exposure and emissions and further minimise the environmental impact of used lead batteries.
The principles also promote the adoption of responsible sourcing policies, working through supply chains to ensure that the lead used for battery manufacturing is produced from environmentally sound recycling practices.
David Shaffer, CEO of US-based EnerSys and head of Battery Council International, said: “This is a significant moment for the lead battery industry and its lead suppliers in North America and Europe. In September we agreed to move forward with this programme, and have collaborated over the past four months to agree to this set of guiding principles.
“We are committed to working together for the responsible and safe manufacture and recycling of batteries and believe we can make a difference in countries where the need for improvement is greatest.”
Marc Zoellner, EUROBAT president and CEO of EU-based Hoppecke Batteries, said: “The main goal of this programme is to work together with stakeholders such as leading global environmental authorities, NGOs and regulators and to help improve global standards especially in low and middle-income countries.
“As a responsible industry, we commit ourselves to developing a formal sourcing policy and health and safety performance with the ultimate objective of establishing a new set of targets. This Material Stewardship project will supplement another self-imposed initiative from the battery industry, namely its successful employee blood lead reduction programme, which was implemented in Europe and the US more than 20 years ago.”
These are the seven guiding principles:
• Support responsible battery manufacturing and recycling by placing environmental health and safety excellence at the heart of our operations.
• Promote the sound management of lead exposure and emissions by setting continuous improvement targets and sharing best practices.
• Adopt responsible sourcing policies for lead containing materials, seek to identify risks in the supply chain, and use our influence to promote best practices for EHS performance in suppliers’ operations.
• Minimize the environmental impact of our products by encouraging the development of programmes that ensure the effective collection, transport and environmentally sound recycling of used lead batteries.
• Adopt business practices that consider the communities impacted by our operations, respect the human and labour rights of our employees and work against corruption in all its forms.
• Proactively engage key stakeholders in an open and transparent manner.
• Partner with key stakeholders and government agencies to share our expertise and promote environmentally sound recycling of lead batteries in low and medium-income countries.
